White House to host global COVID-19 summit next week

Next week will be a big one for the effort to vaccinate the world.

The White House announced Friday that it will host a global COVID-19 summit next week.

The virtual summit, to be held on Wednesday, coincides with the U.N. General Assembly.

More doses coming: The Washington Post reported Friday that the Biden administration is planning to buy hundreds of millions more doses of vaccine to donate to the world as well, though details have not been announced yet.

The U.S. could also seek to boost commitments from other countries at the summit.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement that the U.S. would be calling for a “higher level of ambition” from participants on a range of topics, such as efforts to “vaccinate the world.”

Big picture: The moves come as the White House has been under pressure to do more to increase the global vaccination rate.

The White House has pointed to the 140 million vaccine doses it has already donated, and its previous announcement of over 500 million doses to be donated across this year and next. But experts have called for ramping up global vaccine manufacturing to produce more doses.

“While the Administration has already committed to donating 600 million doses worldwide, only 140 million have actually been donated. With 4.5 billion people unvaccinated globally and with the potential need for booster shots, the time for half measures is over. We need to be talking about billions of vaccines, not millions, and we need those vaccines today, not 6 months from now,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.)